


What To Do When There’s Nothing Left To Do

by thatmarvellover



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Author is heavily biased towards Team Iron Man, Beware of OOC characters, Bruce Banner Is a Good Bro, Gen, Hurt Tony Stark, Not Beta Read, Not Canon Compliant, Not Steve Rogers Friendly, Pepper Potts Is a Good Bro, Peter Parker Feels, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Rhodey Is a Good Bro, The Guardians are good bros, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark-centric, author lives for comments, not team Cap friendly, please comment, very slight canon divergence, will try not to let it show though
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-21
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-07-15 04:58:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16056014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatmarvellover/pseuds/thatmarvellover
Summary: In the midst of the aftermath of the snap, Tony has to figure out how to navigate his way through both his inner and outer turmoil in order to get back the people he holds dear from wherever they went after the dusting. He has to figure out what to do when there is nothing left to do.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfic so please keep that in mind when judging. Also, feel free to comment! That’s mainly why I posted this. I haven’t decided whether I’m going to continue this or not. I guess it depends on what y’all think of it! Remember, this is a TRIAL RUN.

     Tony woke up, eyes flying open, panting from the latest terror his mind cooked up. He was lying on hard metal, which alarmed him because the last place he remembered being in was the rocky planet of Titan. Oh, that’s right. Titan. Where the boy he had come to love like a son disappeared. Tony had tried to hold on, tried to keep Peter from going wherever it was he was going, but he slipped through his fingers like water. Tony closed his eyes, covering his face with his aching arm, not wanting to wake up and face a world that didn’t have Peter in it, that may not even have Pepper or Rhodey or Happy in it anymore.

 

Unfortunately for him though, his mind had other ideas. He realized that he first needed to figure out where he was and take stock of the things he had at hand so he could try to get back to Earth- to home. He forced himself to move, to try and sit up but was stopped when a piercing pain came from his left torso.  _ Oh that’s right _ , he thought.  _ That purple asshole stabbed me with my own goddamn weapon. How ironic.  _

 

He braced himself and quickly shot up, groaning in pain despite his best efforts to not make a sound. He heard footsteps now, probably because of his cries. He looked up, ready to fight, but relaxed when he saw the blue woman in the doorway. He vaguely remembers a ship crashing into Thanos and lets loose a small laugh. The woman glares at him.

 

“So you’re finally awake.”, she grumbles.

 

“It would appear so,” Tony replies. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t seem to catch your name. I’m a little tired of calling you “blue woman” in my head.”

 

She glares at him and oh, if looks could kill he’d be pushing up the daisies.

 

“Nebula.” She growls out so low that Tony’s not sure he heard it right.

 

“Nebula?” Tony confirms, “Cool. Um, I don’t mean to be rude, but where the hell am I?”

 

“Right now, we’re in the Bena-,” Nebula chokes on a lump in her throat. “The Benatar… the Guardians’ ship. I decided to wait until you regained consciousness before we left. You might know where to go.”

 

Tony notices her hesitation, almost as if she’s in pain. He wonders whether she was close with these Guardians but doesn’t say anything. He figures that this new woman is like Natasha- when pushed is capable of breaking his neck or slitting his throat- so he keeps his questions to himself.

 

“Um, yeah. We need to go back to Earth. We need to regroup with the… uh… the others.” Tony tries not to think of what could be waiting for them. Destruction, death, pain.  _ And the Rogues,  _ he reminds himself.  _ Or whatever’s left of them.  _ He looks to Nebula and tells her to enter the coordinates for Earth- more specifically Wakanda. He’d known all along where Steve and Co. had gone. There was only one other person at the Siberian bunker, and only that person was willing and capable of helping Rogers with his heist on the Raft.

 

With her inquiries satisfied, she heads off to where he presumes is the control center for the ship.

 

Tony hoists himself up, only allowing a few gasps of pain to escape him as he follows the sound of Nebula’s footsteps along a hallway.

 

He enters the cockpit just as Nebula starts firing up the engines. She only glances in his direction before nodding towards one of the seats. He gratefully sinks into the indicated seat and buckles the clasps. Nebula checks over everything once more before they take off into the vacuum of space.

 

Once Nebula has checked over everything she looks over at Tony.

 

“You should wrap that wound,” she says. “Unless, of course, you’d like to die before we reach Terra.”

 

Tony glances down at the wound he had almost forgotten which starts to throb again as if to make sure he doesn’t forget it again.

 

“Yeah, probably.”

 

Nebula leads him to a storage room where she hands him a roll of bandages. While she heads back to the cockpit,  Tony finds a place to sit. Once he is done he looks around his new surroundings. It looks very lived in, with personal belongings strewn everywhere. A sock here, an empty snack bag there. Then he sees a mixtape player embedded into the wall.  _ Wow… how long has it been since I’ve seen one of these?,  _ he thinks. Looking around for something to play, he sees a mixtape on a nearby table. Hobbling over, he sees its label : “Awesome Mix Vol. 1”. He inserts the mixtape and presses play.  _ Footloose  _ starts playing, and he’s calmed by the familiar song.

 

~*~

 

Over in the cockpit, Nebula struggles to keep herself together. She doesn’t think about how her sister is gone… just when they had started to fix their relationship. She doesn’t think about the “family” of sorts she had slowly become a part of. And she  _ definitely  _ doesn’t think about how she now needs to move on without them.

 

But, then she hears that absolutely ridiculous song that Quill was always playing.  _ What was it again? Handtight? Neckloose? Some stupid name. _ And it brings back memories of her sister recounting the moment she started falling in love with Quill to her during a “sisterly  bonding session”.

 

_ “He put the headphones over my ears and swayed with me. It was like nothing I had ever heard before.” _

 

_ “Surely you didn’t fall in love with him just because of that?” _

 

_ “No. It was when I held a knife to his throat because I had thought that he was trying to seduce me.” _

 

_ “...wow, Gamora. You fell in love with him when you were about to kill him.” _

 

_ “No, if you hush I’ll be able to finish telling you. It was because even when I was going to kill him, he didn’t make any move to take me down or defend himself. He was so different from the men I had previously known. I hope you find someone like that.” _

 

_ “Okay. Can we talk about something else now?” _

 

Nebula didn’t even notice when one fat, hot tear rolled down her cheek, tracing a path through the dust that had collected on her face. By the time she noticed she was crying, many more tears had followed. She tried to keep a stoic façade but her lip started quivering and soon her vision was blurred by the sheer amount of tears.

 

A throat cleared behind her. She whipped her head around to see Tony standing at the door with an expressionless look on his face, although it appeared that he had been crying too. His eyes were red and puffy, and he was swallowing hard- as if there was a lump in his throat.

 

“I’m sorry. Was I not supposed to play that?”

 

Nebula scolds herself for crying, for that moment of weakness.

 

“No it’s fine.”

 

The Terran sits down in the seat next to her. She glances at him, wondering why he didn’t choose any of the other seats.

 

“You know, it’s okay to cry every once in a while.”

 

She looks at him, bewildered.

 

“What?”

 

“Yeah. It took me a while to figure it out. I’d always been taught that to cry or show any emotions was a mistake.”  _ Stark men are made of iron.  _ “But then I had friends who taught me that needing to let go and be human was okay. And that it was better to do it with someone else. Even if just to have a shoulder to cry on.”

 

Nebula glanced at him, wondering what his point was.

 

“Anyway, I know that you don’t know me, and I don’t know you, but you can tell me what’s bothering you. Or we don’t have to talk and you can just cry. Just let go. It doesn’t matter to me. Just don’t bottle it all up or else you’ll end up like me: all your friends gone because they thought you didn’t care or that you thought everything was a joke.” , he finishes bitterly.

 

Nebula slowly turns around to see two red-rimmed, deep brown eyes filled with regret and understanding. She faces front again and, hating herself, starts to cry. She doesn’t make a sound, just letting her tears fall. She doesn’t understand why she’s crying in front of this Terran she just met. It is so unlike her to let her walls down in front of a stranger. But, maybe it was because of the previous events, or maybe she was getting lenient in her age.  _ Goddammit Quill. You’ve made me soft. _

 

After a long time of sitting in silence, Nebula’s eyes start to droop. She’s so mentally and emotionally exhausted that it’s a miracle she’s still awake. The Terran notices and suggests that she go get some shuteye.

 

“I’m sure I can figure it out. I didn’t graduate MIT at 17 because of a fluke, you know.”

 

It’s a sign of how tired she is that she doesn’t argue or ask what in the heck “MIT” is. She lets him take the controls and goes to Gamora’s room. Climbing in the bed, she curls up on her side and looks at all the signs of her sister’s presence. A hairbrush, some pictures, a sword. Closing her eyes, Nebula drifts off wondering whether Gamora knew that she loved her when she was killed by their father.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank so for reading this y’all! Remember to please drop a comment! I’m pretty much doing this for criticism! Don’t be afraid to give me your opinion.


	2. Chapter 2

~*~

 **_Closing her eyes, Nebula drifts off wondering whether Gamora knew that she loved her when she was killed by their father._ **    

~*~

 

Once Nebula leaves, Tony sinks into the pilot’s seat and glances at the control console. He reads that there are about 35 jumps until they reach Earth, whatever that means. Once he’s given himself a once-over of the basic controls and such, he leans back into the seat and allows himself to think about the events of the day. _Wow. All that only happened a couple of hours ago? Fuck._

 

That means Peter was alive only a few hours ago. That means that **half of the entire fucking universe** was killed a couple hours ago. It feels as if a lifetime has passed since he held Peter’s crumbling form in his arms. Since he watched the life leave his eyes. Since he was telling the kid that “ _it was okay”_ when it was **not** okay.

 

Tony closes his eyes as his body is wracked with guilt. How could he have said that to a dying child? He couldn't do a single goddamn thing as he watched his boy get blown away and it’s _killing_ him. This is the entire reason he continued Iron Man: to keep innocent lives from being cut short. But he failed. He let that grape asshole get away because he wasn't good enough.

 

He wasn't smart enough.

 

He wasn't fast enough.

 

He wasn't capable of doing it in the first place.

 

 _Steve could've saved him,_ Tony thinks bitterly. _Steve would have killed Thanos. All I was able to do was draw a single drop of blood._

 

For what seems like the hundredth time since the so called “Civil War”, Tony doubts and regrets his decision to sign the Accords. With every passing day of the media and the people taking Cap’s side Tony wonders how things would have gone had he not signed the Accords. The Avengers definitely wouldn’t be split up. They would’ve been strong and united- ready to take on Thanos. _Well,_ Tony thought. _I probably wouldn’t be there. I’d be retired. And all for the better. I wouldn’t have caused Pep so much pain, I wouldn’t have dragged the kid into a mess he had no business being in in the first place, and Rhodey. Oh, Rhodey. Rhodey wouldn’t have lost the use of his legs. God, when did I screw everything up?_

 

An alarm interrupts his thoughts. Tony leans forward to see what it was whining about. “ **10 jumps remaining** ” the display reads. _Shit._ Tony isn’t ready to face the world that is suffering from the consequences of his mistakes. He isn’t ready to face the Rogues, with their judgmental stares and hateful words.

 

_Damn. What am I even gonna say? “Hey guys! So, I indirectly killed half of the universe! How have you guys been doing?”_

 

No. He doesn’t want to think about that right now. He’ll cross that bridge when he comes to it. Right now, he should probably wake Nebula. Tony heaves himself out of the chair, bones creaking and wound aching.

 

He wanders down the hall, peeking into each room. In one, the walls are bare except for a single picture. Tony hesitates, not wanting to intrude, but his curiosity wins out in the end and he walks into the room.

 

It’s a small picture, nothing fancy, but it has many creases and folds, showing use and age. Someone carried this photo everywhere. Tony peers into it, trying to make out the blurry figures inside. It takes him a few minutes but he thinks he sees a raccoon ( _What the hell?_ ) chasing after a baby tree ( _???_ ) that is stuffing what looks like a beetle into its mouth.

 

Tony rubs his eyes, thinking that maybe his exhaustion is finally catching up to him. _Maybe it’s time to sleep._ He can’t remember the last time he slept. _Was it when I had just finished developing the nanobots? That was a week ago._ Oh well. Tony heads off to find Nebula.

 

He finds her in the last room. She is curled up on her side, tense, almost as if she’s waiting to fight. Tony heads over to the bed. In his exhaustion, he forgets that Nebula is very much like Natasha, and probably won’t like being touched awake. So when he nudges her shoulder, he is taken off his guard as she jerks awake and throws him onto his stomach, twisting his arm behind him as she shoves her knee between his shoulder blades.

 

“Fuck!”, he bites out.

 

“Oh,” Nebula says. “It’s you, Terran.”

 

“Yeah no shit!” Tony exclaims as he feels his wound reopening and oozing blood. “Can you get off me now?!”

 

Nebula pushes off of him, standing critically next to him as he sits up, pulling up his shirt to check his wound. It has indeed reopened. The makeshift nano-spray he had put on it to help cut off the most major bleeding had cracked, blood leaking through the fractures. Luckily, the bandage he had put in earlier catches the blood.

 

“What were you doing in here?”

 

“What the fuck do you think? I was waking you up,” Tony growls. “We’re less than 10 jumps away from Wakanda now.”

 

“Why didn’t you just say so?” Nebula snarks as she walks out of the room, leaving Tony sitting in the floor muttering obscenities under his breath.

 

As he follows her back to the cockpit, Tony notices that she is limping on her robotic legs.

 

“Do those hurt you?” he asks.

 

She doesn’t even spare a glance his way as she answers, “No.”

 

“Well, they look like they hurt.”

 

“ _Well,_ they don’t. I’ve had these for years. They don’t hurt.”

 

“Alright alright. But if you ever need help with them, I can probably fix them for you.”

 

“Thanks,” she answers curtly.

 

They settle back into the chairs they had sat in earlier as Nebula looks over the displays.

 

“We have one jump left,” she announces. “Strap in, our landing may be rough.”

 

Tony straps in but remembers at the last minute that Earth, more specifically Wakanda, may not be very welcoming to anything from space at the moment. He’s not sure if their defenses are operational but he would rather be safe than sorry.

 

“Turn on our radio communications,” He tells her. “I need to make contact with Wakanda. I can probably contact Rhodes. I assume he’s there with the Steve & Friends.”

 

“Alright.” She says.

 

He looks at his own console and starts trying to make their radio waves meet the ones in the Iron Man suit that Rhodey had taken a lifetime ago.

 

It’s only static for a couple minutes, in which they arrive at Earth and hover just outside of the atmosphere. Then, right as he considers moving on to trying to contact the U.S. government, Rhodey’s voice crackles through.

 

“Who is this?” Rhodes asks.

 

Tony nearly sobs in relief at hearing his best friend’s voice, sounding exhausted but very much alive.

 

He looks over at Nebula who nods signaling that he can speak.

 

“Hey Honey-bear!” He tries to say cheerfully. “Mind making sure that we don’t get blown up trying to land in Wakanda? I’d like to set foot on Earth at least one more time, please and thank you.”

 

“Tony?” Rhodey gasps. “Where have you been, man? We really needed you here!”

 

“Aw thanks, Honey-bear! It’s nice to know you missed me! I got kind of sidetracked on another planet although I’m here now. Can we talk when we land?”

 

“Oh yeah sure! Lemme just- Hold on.”

 

Tony waits in pensieve silence as Nebula gazes at Earth.

 

“Alright you’re clear to land. Hurry up too, will ya?” Rhodey sounds immensely sad.

 

“Of course, Rhodey. See ya in a bit.” Tony says before he ends the connection.

 

He nods at Nebula who heads to the coordinates from Rhodey’s suit. As they near the ground, Tony can see smoke and thousands of bodies, although he can’t tell if they’re alien or human.

 

Nebula heads to a clearing with the fewest bodies littering the ground. From the cockpit, Tony can see people emerging from the woods a few dozen yards away. He can see the Hulkbuster armor from here and knows that Bruce is safe. He releases a breath of relief. He can also see a smaller armor which he presumes is Rhodey and a familiar blue uniform. _Steve._ Tony braces himself before looking at Nebula who is already in the hallway, waiting for him. He starts to stand up, but the movement aggravates his wound and causes immense pain and blood to flow.

 

He’s about to collapse back into the seat when he feels an arm around his waist. He looks up into Nebula’s stoic face and feels incredibly grateful to her for just being there. He doesn’t think that he would have made it had he been alone. He hoists himself up with her help and to get her they head down the hallway.

 

They reach the hatch to the outside, pausing a moment so that Nebula can reach over and push the button to open it. She readjusts herself so that she is carrying most of his weight as the hatch opens, the bright African sun blinding them.

 

They blink for a moment, eyes adjusting before they start to make their way down the steps, stepping into the grass before they are met with those who are left. Steve, Rhodes, Bruce, Natasha, Thor, and a raccoon that, strangely, looks familiar.

 

Everyone is silent for a few seconds, staring at each other until Tony decides to break the silence.

 

“Hey, guys.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank so for reading this y’all! Remember to please drop a comment! I’m pretty much doing this for criticism! Don’t be afraid to give me your opinion.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y’all! Sorry about the ridiculously short chapter but I am currently drowning in homework due to my tendency to procrastinate. Right now, I’m aiming to update at least twice a month, although I don’t have any specific days planned out. I guess just check in if you really like this story enough! Again, thanks for reading and I hope y’all have a nice week!

**~*~**

  ** _Everyone is silent for a few seconds, staring at each other until Tony decides to break the silence._**

 

**_“Hey, guys.”_ **

**~*~**

 

It’s as if Tony’s words had pushed a “play” button, because everyone springs into action. Rhodey, Bruce, Thor, and Rogers all rush at him; Rhodey reaches him first and engulfs him in a metal-clad hug.

 

“Hey, Tones.” Rhodey whispers before Bruce gets there and Tony can see a couple silent tears running down his cheeks as he wraps his arms around them both. And then Tony’s feet leave the ground as he hears a familiar booming laugh in his left ear.

 

“Hey Brucie-bear! Hey Point-Break!” Tony manages to strain out. “Would you mind letting us down? I mean, I missed y’all and everything but I’d prefer to have my feet on stable ground.”

 

“Oh right! Of course!” Thor booms, and lets them down, but not after giving them one last squeeze.

 

Tony had forgotten about his wound until Thor squeezed them all together and Bruce’s elbow dug into his side. He gasped in pain, drawing the attention of Bruce who narrowed his eyes at his torso. Rhodey was busy trying to get away from Thor who was still laughing, clutching his right ear.

 

Once his feet touched the ground, his legs started to give out, and he fell toward the ground before he was caught by strong arms.

 

He looked up, a thanks already on his lips for Bruce, but instead of looking into the brown eyes of Bruce, saw sharp blue eyes. Eyes he hadn’t seen since he was lying on the cold ground of a Siberian bunker, watching the classic shield force its way into the arc reactor.

 

Tony cries out, simultaneously pushing away from Rogers and covering the arc reactor with his arms. This time, he falls into metal arms who support him, who ground him- keeping him from sinking into another mind-terror.

 

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” He hears Rhodey grit out.

 

“I just wanted to help! He was falling!”

 

“I meant what the hell do you think you’re doing _here?”_

 

“I’m just here to welcome Tony back!”

 

It’s these words that finally yank Tony out of his stupor.

 

“Excuse me?” He asks in a low, dangerous voice.

 

Rhodey and Rogers immediately stop their bickering, and everyone else just stands there watching- as if they can’t pull their eyes away from the spectacle unfolding in front of them.

 

“You wanted to welcome me back? After all that’s happened? After Siberia happened?”

 

“I-“ Rogers stammers.

 

“No! This is where you zip it!” _The adults are talking._ “It’s my turn to talk! Do you really think that just because we’re in an end-of-the-world situation it gives you a right to _welcome me back_?”

 

Tony takes a deep breath.

 

“We are irreversibly fractured, Rogers. There is no going back to the way things were. _You_ did that. And your fucking ‘apology’? It pushed things past the breaking point. Even after I thought you could sink no lower- after Siberia- you sent that fucking letter and that piece of shit phone spouting all of this nonsense. ‘ _The Avengers are more your family than mine’._ Mind explaining why they all left me then? All of them, barring Rhodes, followed you. Clint, Nat, Sam, Vision, Maximoff- they all went with you. I didn’t even know where the hell Bruce and Thor were!” Tony closes his eyes for a moment to gather his thoughts. “I don’t even know why; you were willing to risk everything for Barnes- like you had tunnel vision. Y’all left me to pick up the mess you guys left behind. And you said ‘ _If you ever need me, I’ll be there.”._ Well, I needed you then! I needed all of you! The media was hounding me, Ross was breathing down my fucking neck, Pepper had broken up with me, Rhodey had lost his legs, and this kid is suddenly looking up to me but **_none of you were there!_ ** ”

 

Tony’s panting in rage by now, and everyone has the decency to stay silent, wide eyed. Rogers finally looks to the ground in shame. Nat looks as if she has tears in the back of her eyes but is holding them back and Bruce and Thor look stricken. Finally, Tony notices Nebula standing off to the side, and looking at her reminds him of what is happening in the now, and the urgency of the situation they are all in together; whether they like it or not. He decides that is the end of his little rant for now, and staggers over to where Nebula is standing.

 

She automatically takes most of his weight as Rhodey rushes over as well, moving Tony’s arm over his shoulders.

 

“Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to go get medical attention and start working on a solution to get us all out of this mess. Goodbye.”

 

With that, and with Nebula and Rhodey at his side, he starts making his way toward the city in the distance.

 

~*~

 

As they approach the entrance to the magnificent city in front of them, they see two women standing together near the border. One seems to be comforting the other, although they are both crying.

 

As they near, Rhodey realizes that they are Princess Shuri and the general Okoye. He remembers how distraught Okoye had seemed when T’Challa had faded to dust.

 

They are almost to the entrance when Tony trips over air and lands on his side. He cries out in pain and Rhodey is by his side in an instant, groaning in exasperation in his mind.

 

“Dammit Tones, you idiot!”

 

He realizes that he is the only one struggling to take Tony’s weight again and look up to see the blue cyborg lady standing to the side, smirking.

 

Rhodes doesn’t say anything, mostly because he's slightly (only slightly) intimidated by her and grabs one of Tony’s arms, trying to pull him up.

 

Suddenly, the rest of Tony follows the direction of his arm and Rhodey nearly falls over at the sudden leniency. He looks over to see Okoye holding one of Tony’s arms around her shoulders, scowling down her nose at the crazy white boy they’ll have to fix.

 

“Thanks,” Rhodes grunts out as he takes Tony’s other arm around his own shoulders again. “Sorry for interrupting. Tony can’t seem to walk correctly.”

 

It’s at this moment that Tony manages a “Fuck you, Rhodey” before passing out, the blood loss finally getting to him.

 

Rhodey suddenly feels Tony’s dead weight pull him down and finally notices the blood running down Tony’s body. He pales as he connects the dots from Tony passing out to the dangerously large pool of blood on the ground to the cracked crust that covers one side of Tony’s torso.

 

He quickly lays Tony down in the ground so as to avoid further blood loss and yells for Okoye to retrieve a stretcher, a piece of wood, a door, _anything_ so that they can move his best friend and save his life.

 

Surprisingly, Okoye listens to his orders and rushes off as the princess runs to them, takes stock of the situation, and rips off the lower half of her shirt, pressing it against the oozing wound. Tony moans in pain but doesn’t regain consciousness.

 

Shuri’s cloth is completely drenched in blood by the time Okoye comes back with a stretcher and two medical personnel. They start asking questions about the wound that only the blue lady is able to answer in concise sentences.

 

They load Tony onto the stretcher, Shuri still pressing the cloth to the wound, and Rhodey steps back hesitantly. He wants to run after Tony- to keep him in his sight- especially after what had just taken place a few hours earlier. However, he forces himself to calm down, knowing that Tony is in good hands and that he is needed elsewhere.

 

Speaking of which, where have the Rogues gone to?

 

~*~

 

Tony somewhat regains consciousness after a particularly painful push in his torso. He opens heavily lidded eyes to see a woman rushing next to him, and... he’s laying down? Since when?

 

Then he follows her arms and sees that they are doing something to him, and then all he knows is _pain, and bright lights, and hands on his chest-_

 

 _And now he’s staring into the resigned face of Yinsen as he places the electromagnet into his chest and all he can think is it hurts, it hurts, it_ hurts, _I’m going to die, please die please die_ **_please die!_ **

 

_And then there is only blissfully peaceful darkness._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank so for reading this y’all! Remember to please drop a comment! I’m pretty much doing this for criticism! Don’t be afraid to give me your opinion.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait! This chapter was hard to churn out seeing as it was mostly dialogue. It was so difficult to try and keep them in-character. Whew! Enjoy and comment please! (Comments are my motivation!)

**_~*~_ **

 

**_And now he’s staring into the resigned face of Yinsen as he places the electromagnet into his chest and all he can think is it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, I’m going to die, please die please die please die!_ **

 

**_And then there is blissfully peaceful darkness._ **

 

**_~*~_ **

 

_Darkness. A vacuum. That is what Tony senses as he opens his eyes to a nightmare. He’s back in space, stuck in his suit with no way to contact Earth. He sees the missile headed toward the Chitauri mothership and sees a brilliant blast of white light before he finally gives up to asphyxiation; he had never planned on going to space in his suit. There’s the brief sensation of falling before the scene changes._

 

_He is once again in the Hydra base where they found the scepter, and the witch invades his mind once more. He looks around at the carnage surrounding him, at the bodies of the Avengers- his family. He runs to the closest body- Steve- and checks for a pulse, his own pulse racing with anxiety. Suddenly, Steve grabs his arm._

 

_“You… could have… saved us.” He says with his dying breath._

 

_His eyes remain open, staring at Tony with a question._

 

_“Why didn’t you do more?”_

 

_Tony backs away, finally looking up to see the Earth under siege. Except that this time, instead of the Chitauri it is Thanos’ ship._

 

_He gapes up at the ship as a purple, red, yellow, orange, green, and blue blast destroys earth, turning it into ash. The blast grows so bright it turns white, and when the light fades away he finds himself standing on Titan._

 

_His wound aching, he tries to stem the blood flow with nanites when he hears him._

 

_“Mr. Stark?”_

 

 _No. No no no no no. Not this._ **_Please._ **

 

_“Mr. Stark? I don’t feel so good.”_

 

_Tony turns around to see Peter’s petrified face as he stumbles toward Tony. When he reaches him he wraps his arms around him and holds on tightly- being careful not to use his super strength even as he’s dying._

 

_“Mr. Stark, please.”_

 

_Peter’s pupils are dilated as his body desperately tries to fight its fate. His legs start to go and Tony slowly lowers him to the ground._

 

_In his head, Tony hears Steve’s voice: “Why didn’t you do more?”._

 

_He feels immense guilt build up inside him as Peter’s face suddenly changes from an expression of terror to anger._

 

_“How could you? I’m just a kid! I have friends and family who love and need me, unlike you! It should have been you instead!”_

 

_“No, Peter-“_

 

_“Shut up! It’s all your fault! Me, the Civil War, Thanos!”_

 

_Tony desperately shakes his head as if that would keep the words from reaching his ears._

 

_“If you had just died when you had gotten captured by the Ten Rings all of this could’ve been avoided!”_

 

_A tear slowly makes its way down Tony’s cheek._

 

_“The world would’ve been better off!”_

 

 _“_ **_I would have been better off!”_ **

 

Tony wakes with a start- years of waking up from nightmares the only thing keeping him from crying out.

 

He lays there for a second, catching his breath, and hears faint snoring coming from his right.

 

He looks over to see Rhodey sitting in such a position that Tony knows he’s going to have a crick in his neck when he wakes up. Tony starts to sit up when he feels a slight ache in his side.

 

 _Right,_ he thought. _I was hurt._

 

He looks down and raises the hospital gown he’s in to see a mere scar where there was once an enormous, jagged stab wound.

 

 _What the hell? How long have I been out? Wait…_ **_how long have I been out???_ **

 

He jumps to his feet, yanking out the I.V.s in his arm which sets off alarms in the medical equipment next to his bed.

 

The racket startles Rhodey who jumps to his feet to see Tony barreling towards him.

 

“Woah woah woah, Tones! Calm down! You’re fine! Everything is fine!”

 

“How long have I been out, Rhodes?” Tony growls.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

Tony is so desperate to know how much time has passed, how much time for trying to find Peter he’s lost that he nearly rips the strange tunic he’s in as he shows Rhodey the scar.

 

“This was a deep, openly bleeding puncture wound the last time I was conscious. Now, it is barely even a scar. I’m going to ask you one more time Rhodes. _How long have I been out?_ ”

 

“2 days, Mr. Stark.” A new, strangely familiar voice says behind him.

 

Tony whips around to see a teenager walking towards him surrounded by guards, her hair up in two buns like that lady from the movies Peter likes. _Star Wars,_ he remembers.

 

He looks at her in astonishment.

 

“2 days? That’s impossible, unless you used Helen Cho’s cradle tech. Did she survive th-“

 

“No, Mr. Stark.” The teenager interrupts. “We did not use the cradle. We used vibranium.”

 

Tony is silent for a moment as he processes her statement.

 

“Ah. I see.”

 

The teenager smiles at his speechlessness, albeit a sad one.

 

“Yes, we used vibranium and vibranium technology to heal your wound. Even the scar should fade away over more time.”

 

“Really?” Tony asks.

 

“Really. I’ve even healed paralysis on another broken white boy such as yourself with my tech.”

 

Tony raises his eyebrows at the name and chuckles.

 

“Well, I’d certainly love to see this technology if you’re for myself once I get certain orders of business done, miss..?”

 

“Shuri. My name is Shuri.”

 

“Miss Shuri. Thank you for helping me.”

 

She waved a hand in dismissal. “It was nothing, really,” she said. “Nothing my brother wouldn’t have done.” Her smile fades away until her expression is consumed with grief.

 

That lasts only a split second, however, and Tony can visibly see her pull herself together. She shoves her grief deep inside her.

 

Tony recognizes what she’s doing to herself and it reminds him of how well it had worked for himself when he had done it.

 

“Don’t do that.”

 

She starts and looks at him curiously.

 

“What?”

 

“Don’t shove your grief aside. You need to process it now otherwise it’ll come back to bite you in the ass later, which won’t be fun. In fact- and I can’t believe I’m saying this- it’s okay to cry. I was always told that crying is a sign of weakness and to avoid it at all costs; look how I turned out.”

 

Shuri raises an eyebrow at him as he continues to ramble on.

 

“-and you definitely don’t want to turn out like me, so- yeah. Don’t be afraid to cry.”

 

She chuckles lightly as he finishes with a sheepish look- as if he’s afraid he’s said too much.

 

“That would be nice,” Shuri replies. “But I cannot afford to have a moment of weakness right now. I think that… should I start to grieve I’ll never be able to stop. I can’t do that. Not while my country needs me.”

 

“Ah, yes. I understand. As the princess I’m sure that yo-“

 

“It’s Queen, now,” Shuri interrupts. “Because my brother-“. And the dam breaks as tears start making their way down her face.

 

Tony is taken aback and starts to freak out, awkwardly standing in his place as he watches Shuri break down.

 

“Oh. Er… Are you- um, Queen Shuri? Are you okay?” Tony asks in distress. “Um… I’m sorry. I- I don’t know what to do, erm, do you want me to go get someone?”

 

Tony starts backing up towards the exit but Shuri grabs his arm, wiping at her tears with her other hand and tries to calm herself down.

 

“No, Mr. Stark. I’m… I’m fine. Please don’t go and get somebody. Just give me a second.”

 

Tony does as she says as she cleans herself up. Finally, she straightens up and takes a deep breath.

 

“I am sorry about that Mr. Stark. You shouldn’t have had to witness that.”

 

“It’s fine, rea-“

 

“Now,” she says, cutting him off. “Back to business. Wakanda is offering asylum to the remaining Avengers, the Rogues, and any aliens who fought on our side. Now that you are awake and healed, we will show you to your room.”

 

Tony nods.

 

“You will have a few hours to settle in before we hold a meeting between anyone who has something to contribute to our planning process.”

 

“You think we can reverse the effect of the snap?” Tony asks sullenly.

 

“Of course I do. And it would do you well to believe it too,” she tells him. “We’re going to need you, and you can’t do anything if you don’t have hope.”

 

“Yes ma’am,” Tony jokes. “Y’know, I think you would really get along with my fiancée-“

 

 _Wait,_ Tony thought. _Pepper… Where is she? Did she survive the snap??  I need to contact her. Please, whatever deity may be up there, let Pepper have survived!_

 

“Mr. Stark? Are you okay?”

 

Tony lunges forward and grabs Shuri’s shoulders, causing the guards who had been standing along the perimeter of the room to spring into action, pointing their spears towards Tony’s chest.

 

Shuri raises a hand to stop them as Tony forcefully asks “Where is Rhodey??”

 

“His room is in the East hall: to the left.” She says.

 

Tony lets go of her as he dashes out the door.

 

~*~

 

Running through the hall, Tony cannot form a single coherent thought. He merely thinks of 3 words:  _Pepper. Rhodey. Happy._

 

He looks into every open door as he passes, peeking into Rogers’ room too. Rogers whips around, looking up from a sketchbook and his eyes widen in surprise.

 

”Tony? You’re awake? What’s wrong?”

 

Tony doesn’t bother answering, he just keeps running until he finds a room with the damaged War Machine armor resting on the bed.

 

Tony rushes in to see Rhodey just hanging up his phone. He lunges at Rhodey, blubbering nonsense until Rhodey finally just puts his hand over his mouth.

 

”Tones. Calm down. What’s wrong?” He asks.

 

”Pepper. Where is Pepper? And Happy.”

 

Rhodey’s face falls almost immediately, and Tony’s heart seizes up in fear.

 

”No. No.”

 

”Tones. I’ve been calling them nonstop for the past two days.”

 

”No no no.”

 

”T-They haven’t answered,” Rhodey chokes out. “And it can’t be that there’s no service, because Natasha has been able to contact Clint.”

 

Tony grabs his head as he sinks to his knees.

 

_”Last night I dreamt we had a kid. It was so real.”_

 

_”We might have to push our 8:30 res.”_

_”I swear to God Tony, get back here.”_

_”Boss, we’re losing her.”_

 

Rhodey falls on the ground next to Tony and puts a hand on his shoulder, careful not to touch him from behind just as Rogers comes barreling into the room.

 

He takes in the sight of Tony silently sobbing on the floor next to Rhodes in silence.

 

”Rhodes? I- I saw Tony running down the hall and I thought that something may be wro-“

 

”Just leave, Rogers! Seriously! Just go!” Rhodey roughly waves him out of the room.

 

“But-“

 

”Leave!”

 

Rogers is silent for a moment before he backs out of Rhodey’s room.

 

Rhodey turns back to his friend who is slowly composing himself.

 

Tony is deathly quiet as he stands and wipes the tears from his eyes.

 

”Tony?”

 

He glances down at Rhodey who is looking at him worriedly.

 

”Hand me your phone. I have a lot of work to do.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow... okay so I had quite a bit of trouble trying to figure out how to end this one. At first I ended it in a place that I thought really did the chapter justice, but it seemed a bit too short. Then I tried to keep writing and keep the story going; the endings I’d tried then felt ridiculously awkward. So, I’m sorry if this seems pretty short (probably because it is) but trust me. It’s better this way!

**~*~**

 

**“Hand me your phone. I have so much work to do.”**

 

**~*~**

 

     Tony unconsciously punches in the numbers of the woman he had gotten so used to calling for weekly reports on Pete’s Spider-Man activities. He hesitates only a moment before dialing.

 

The phone rings for a few heart-stopping moments in which Tony begins to assume the worst until a panicky voice answers.

 

“Hello? Tony?” May asks.

 

Tony is silent a second before he clears his throat. “Yeah, May. I’m here. Are yo-,” Tony is cut off in the middle of his sentence.

 

“Tony! Oh my God, where is Peter??? Ned’s here and he told me that Peter jumped out of the bus and went _towards the freaking spaceship-_ which I’m going to have to ground him for- but that’s another problem in itself; right now the city is in chaos, there are muggers everywhere so I’ve locked myself and Ned in the apartment. I don’t know what to do, Tony! I’m worried _out of my mind._ Is Peter okay?? Where is he? _Is he with you?_ I swear to God put him on the phone I need to talk to him.”

 

Tony only has time to take a breath before someone else is on the line.

 

“Wait, May, is that Mr. Stark? Oh my God, Mr. Stark is on the phone. Oh- wait- okay so I had to cover for Peter so he could go and help save the world which is totally freaking awesome and oh my gosh I still can’t believe that my best friend is actually Spider-Man but- shit, I’m off topic- _anyway,_ I they took us back to school because, you know, _aliens were attacking us_ and I was waiting for Peter to come back but the spaceship left the atmosphere! Was Peter on there? He’s always doing recklessly awesome things as Spider-Man. He shoulda told me as his Guy In The Chair. I can give him the silent treatment for that later. Can you put him on please? May and I have been worried sick for the past couple hours; especially with these random deaths happening! Please, put him in the phone!”

 

Hearing these two asking after Peter’s well-being reminded him of the nightmare he had. _“How could you? I’m just a kid! I have friends and family who love and need me, unlike you! It should have been you instead!”_ Another phantom pain streaks across his heart as he struggles to piece his thoughts together into a comprehensive, tactful sentence.

 

May’s voice comes back on and pulls him from his thoughts. “Tony, please. Is something wrong? Where’s my boy?”

 

Rhodey places a comforting hand on his shoulder as Tony chokes out a response. “Pete- Peter is-... He’s-,” but Tony cannot say the words. Not out loud, because if he says them out loud it makes them final, like he himself would be carving Peter’s name into his gravestone. But maybe May has the sense and intuition of a mother; maybe it’s the way his voice has lost all of its life, of its vibrance and sure cockiness, or maybe it is his uncharacteristic silence because May’s next sentence does exactly what Tony was avoiding doing.

 

“He’s gone.”

 

It is not a question. It isn’t said in a panicky manner. It is simply a statement- a finality.

 

“Yes.”

 

So much for tact.

Tony hears her knees hit the hardwood floor of her apartment. _Peter’s apartment._ He hears her take a shuddering breath as Ned’s panicky voice asks after his best friend. He hears her tell him and he hears Ned’s horrified gasp and the following sobs. He hears Rhodey murmuring random nothings into his ear and he hears himself talking to May. “I can’t tell you where I am, but I will send someone to get you. It’s not safe where you are right now. Get Ned to his family though. They should stick together for now.”

 

Tony takes a breath and sifts through his emotions until he finds one thing to grasp on to. Determination. “I swear, May, I’ll get him back. I’ll get them all back. If I have to die trying I will bring them back to where they belong and hopefully punch that wrinkly, purple, panini-chinned asshole so hard his fucking great-grandparents will feel it.”

 

“Purple _what now_?” May chokes out with a tiny laugh.

 

“I’ll explain when you get here. Bye, May. Stay safe.”

 

“Thanks, Tony. You too.”

 

And with that she hangs up.

 

Tony drops the phone as he turns around to look at Rhodey. “We need to make a plan,” Tony says. “We’ve already wasted way too much time.”

 

Rhodey looks at him with an expression of mixed exasperation and pity. “Tony, you just woke up. You just learned that… that the love of your life and one of your oldest friends are dead. You just informed a grieving aunt about her dead nephew. You can spare a few minutes or even a few hours.”

  
“No, Rhodes. You don’t understand. Every minute, every _second_ means that they are just that further away from us. There has to be a way to get them back. We need to convene and pool all our resources. Even if that means working alongside what’s left of Rogers  & Co.”

 

Rhodey opens his mouth- most likely to talk him out of it- but Tony cuts him off again. “No. I’ve made up my mind. We need to find Shuri so that we can gather everyone and get started.” Rhodey closed his mouth with an audible _snap_ as he gives Tony the Evil Eye. “Alright fine,” Rhodey acquiesces. “But you are not going anywhere near them, okay? And you have to promise me that you’ll tell me if it ever gets to be too much. Even the great Tony Stark must take a break sometime.”

 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, Platypus,” Tony sasses with a weak smile. “Whatever you say.” At that moment, Rhodey’s dropped phone gives off a short alarm before FRIDAY’s prerecorded voice reports “ **Stark Secure Server: Urgent Message**.”

 

Tony makes a mental note to link Rhodey’s phone to the active version of FRIDAY as they both shoot each other furtive glances. _Who could this possibly be?_ Tony ponders. _The only people with access to that server are Rhodes, Pep, Happy, and- Harley._ Sure that it is the kid Tony raises a placating hand towards Rhodes and picks up the phone, activating the message.

 

“Tony? Are you there? It’s Harley, I know you’ve probably forgotten that you gave me access to this server because, you know, you’re ridiculously old, but you did. Anyway, everything’s gone to shit. I watched you leave the fucking atmosphere and not come back. Did you finally get over your fear of space? I don’t know if you’re back or not, but my- my Mom- something happened to her and, she got dusted. Same with Sis… I, um, I’m taking the truck to New York. Don’t worry. In case you can’t remember (cause you’re old and all), you helped me get my driver’s permit, so yes- I can drive. I’m already on my way. There’s no point in talking me out of it. I’m taking care of actually getting there, now you just make sure that you’re there. Please? You’re all I have left, old man. See you.”

 

Rhodey turns to look at him, his expression horrified and surprised. “Isn’t that that kid you told me about? After the whole ‘Mandarin Incident’?” Tony nods. “Yup. And he’s driving himself to fucking New York. He’s only 15, Rhodes! From what May told me, New York is not exactly the safest place to be right now! That little shit! He just loves to make my life that much harder for me, doesn’t he?”

 

Tony breaks off as his thoughts surround him. _He is most likely going to head to the compound. If I can get access to FRIDAY here, I can tell May to go there too, and FRI can pilot a jet to Wakanda. Now I just have to reach FRIDAY._ He grabs Rhodey’s phone and sits on the bed, already rooting through the phone’s code as he reboots his private satellites. Once that is over, he finds FRIDAY’s code and starts bringing her, piece by piece, through the barrier surrounding the capital city of Wakanda. He loses track of where Rhodey is as he works- it is hard work after all. It takes him a good 6 minutes to assimilate her completely, but he achieves it.

 

**“Boss? Why am I in Wakanda? You are not in the suit. Are you okay?”**

 

Tony smiles at her worry. “Yeah, FRI. Don’t worry about me. I’m all healed up thanks to the Wakandan tech they have here.”

 

**“That is good to know- but, Boss? Why can I not contact Karen? Is Mr. Parker not there? Where is he?”**

 

His earlier smile melts away like candle wax. “No, FRI. He’s not. He- he didn’t make it; the dusting.”

 

**“Oh… I am very sorry, Boss. I know he meant a lot to you.”**

 

“Thanks,” Tony says before clearing his throat. If he doesn’t change the subject soon, he may start crying again, and that is unacceptable. _Stark men are made of iron._ “Speaking of which, can you contact May Parker, please? I wanna bring her and Harley here, and it would be easiest to do so on a jet from the compound. Ask her to get there in a couple hours; Harley’s driving.”

 

**“Of course, Boss. Should I inform Harley as well?”**

 

“Yeah, may as well. Oh! Can you tell them to also grab my phone from my desk? I’m tired of using Rhodey’s piece-of-junk clunker.” This earns him a scowl.

 

 **“On it,”** FRIDAY says amusedly.

 

“Excellent!” Tony claps his hands together, looking at Rhodey. “Let’s go make a plan!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first fanfic so please keep that in mind when judging. Also, feel free to comment! That’s mainly why I posted this. I haven’t decided whether I’m going to continue this or not. I guess it depends on what y’all think of it! Remember, this is a TRIAL RUN.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y’all! Sorry about my radio silence, but I’ve had some personal issues that sprung up on me out of nowhere and school has been kicking my ass. I know it’s ridiculously short but I figured I’d give y’all at least a little something for Christmas! And if you don’t celebrate Christmas, Happy Holidays!
> 
> P.S. THE A4 TRAILER!!! Oh my goddddd tonyyyyy! It came out during my lunch break at school and I screamed so loud that people came and asked me if I was okay two class periods afterwards

**_~*~_ **

 

**_“Excellent!” Tony claps his hands together, looking at Rhodey. “Let’s go make a plan!”_ **

 

**_~*~_ **

  


     He wakes as suddenly as if someone had screamed in his ear ( _which had actually happened before- Thanks, Ned)._ The first thing he registers is the space. The vast, endless space he senses around himself. He cannot register another presence, be it human or something foreign, for what must be miles.

 

The second thing he notices is that he is no longer in pain. He stretches out his muscles and comes to find that he’s lying on his back. He remembers physical pain like nothing he had ever experienced before, and he remembers emotional pain- seeing the man he had loved like a father get tossed around like he was nothing. And then he remembers the _fear._ He was so _afraid_ for his mentor’s life. He was so _afraid_ of going.

 

And now, _he’s wet?_ He moves his arms around and listens to the quiet trickling of the water moving around. He has to tell himself to open his eyes because he’s just that comfortable. He hasn’t felt this at peace since before his uncle died. But now he’s remembering everyone who isn’t here. _May, Ned, Mr. Stark, MJ, Ben._ And there’s a feeling deep inside him screaming at him to open his eyes and get up.

 

Peter shoots up, eyes flashing open as his senses are flooded with memories and feelings, fear being the most prominent of all.

 

 _“Mr. Stark, please, I don’t wanna go. Please, sir. I’m sorry.”_ He cringes as his most recent memory is brought to the front of his mind. _I cannot believe I said that. Why, Parker? Why did you have to do that?_ Guilt drowns him as he remembers words from what feels like was years ago. _“And if you die, well, I feel like that’s on me. I don’t need that on my conscience.”_ He feels absolutely **terrible** , putting that on his mentor’s conscience. Knowing the man, he’d either be drowning himself in alcohol or self-hateful thoughts. _Speaking of Mr. Stark… where is he?_

 

Looking around he sees nothing but water and _orange?_ sky. Looking at himself he notices that he is still wearing the Iron Spider suit- his last gift from Mr. Stark. His spider-sense is a constant dull ache in his soul telling him that he needs to move. He stands up, staggering for a moment on legs that had been dust only a little while ago.

 

“KAREN?” Peter calls. “KAREN, are you there?”

 

For a second there is only silence and Peter resigns himself to the fact that he is alone wherever he is but then KAREN somehow pulls through.

 

“Peter? I cannot detect any signals from FRIDAY or any active satellites. May I ask what happened while I was disconnected?”

 

“Ummm… basically, we hooked up with some aliens that had tried to kill us, made a plan to get the gauntlet from this purple dude Thanos- which almost worked!- Mr. Stark got stabbed, and I guess I died? Yeah… I died.”

 

“That simply isn’t possible, Peter. If you were dead, I would not be able to speak with you the way that I am right now,” KAREN says, almost sounding puzzled.

 

“I know… that’s what’s weird about this. Hey, doesn’t this kind of remind you of when we were trapped in the warehouse for Damage Control for an eternity?”

 

“Yes, except that I was not trapped. You were. Also, you were not there for an eternity. You were only there for an hour.”

 

“Okay, KAREN. Whatever. Hey, can you detect any signs of life in the vicinity? My senses can’t pick anything up.”

 

“Sure, Peter,” KAREN says. “Allow me just a second.” Peter pauses so that he can also try again. “Actually, I can. I’m detecting two heat signatures, although they are very far away.”

 

In his excitement at hearing that there are two other people in here with him, Peter didn’t stop to think that they might not be _people_. “Awesome! Which way are they?”

 

“To your left,” KAREN answers. “Although I must warn you, Peter, given your current environment, you may want to take caution when approaching them. I’m not completely sure if they are hum-“ Peter cuts her off as he starts sprinting in the direction she told him. “C’mon, KAREN! They might need help!” Peter pretends not to notice the staticky noise that KAREN emits- her form of a sigh.

 

His feet splash in the two-inch deep water that serves as a floor as he rushes toward the spot KAREN highlighted on his HUD.

 

“Peter,” she tries again. “You are in an unknown location. We have no inkling of an idea of where anybody might be- not even Mr. Stark. You must proceed with caution!”

 

“Cheer up, KAREN!” Peter pants between breaths. “Just a few seconds ago I woke up with no one and now I have you plus two other people!”

 

“That is exactly my point though! They may not be-” she cuts herself off as the HUD displays a proximity alarm. “Slow down. You’re almost there. Now, remember, you have virtually no cover so-”

 

But Peter already caught sight of them using his enhanced sight. “Yeah, yeah KAREN. I got it. Did Mr. Stark secretly update you? You’re sounding an awful lot like him. Now, can you please be quiet? I need to focus.”

 

KAREN makes a noise that sounds like an exasperated sigh but stays silent.

 

He slows to an easy walk as the two figures come closer. It almost sounds as if they are arguing. What really makes one of them stand out is their left arm, weakly glinting in what soft light this place has. Peter creeps closer, keeping low to the ground to preserve what little cover he has.

 

“-swear, I must have offended God Himself to be stuck in this godforsaken place with you!”

 

“Well, you're certainly no peach yourself! Always going on about that stupid drone and how much Stark pisses you off!”

 

“HEY! My drone is _not_ stupid. And he has a name, thank you very much. It’s _Redwing_.”

 

“...with the benefit of hindsight, being on ice was a blessing compared to this. I can’t escape from you even in death.”

 

”Are you kidding me?! I have to deal with you being an as-“

 

Peter stops listening and focuses on what he’s learned.  _Wait a second,_ Peter thinks. _Isn’t Redwing the name of the drone Mr. Stark made for the Falcon?? And the left arm of that dude… Bucky Barnes?? No way!_

 

Overcome with excitement at finding familiar faces (even if they weren’t exactly friends), Peter jumps up and runs toward them.

 

“Oh my God! Bucky Barnes! Falcon dude! Remember m-!”

 

Immediately, the two seasoned veterans stop arguing and jump into action, Falcon activating his wings and launching into the air and Barnes throwing punches at Peter’s ribs and head. Peter manages for a few throws until Falcon comes down and kicks him in the back, sending him sprawling in the water. Peter leaps back up in time to catch the punch that would have nailed him in the nose.

 

Barnes starts at the sudden déjà-vu and barks at the Falcon. ”Stop!”

 

Falcon lands and folds his wings, studying Peter critically. “Hey,” he says hesitantly. “Aren’t you that spider kid?”

 

Peter releases Barnes’ fist and groans exasperatedly.

  
“It’s Spider- _Man_.”


End file.
